To meet consumer demand for convenient ways in which to make purchases, a variety of types of cards are marketed that allow consumers to make purchases without paying cash. Often, such cards have an expiration date. One example is a debit card that is issued with a certain value to a consumer, thus allowing the consumer to make purchases up to the value of the card. There are a variety of categories of debit cards, including gift cards, travel cards, and payroll cards.
A pre-paid gift card is a prepaid card that can be used everywhere debit cards are accepted, including retail stores and online merchants. Because it is a prepaid card, spending is limited to the amount of money placed on the card by the purchaser. Such cards are often used for birthdays, holidays, weddings, and all other gift-giving occasions. These cards have advantages over cash such as being replaceable if lost or stolen.
A travel card is a prepaid card that offers business and pleasure travelers a better alternative to traveler's cheques and cash. A travel card can be used to make purchases while avoiding the cost of converting currency at exchange bureaus and the risk of carrying cash while traveling.
A payroll card allows an employer an innovative way of paying employees. A payroll card is a reloadable prepaid card. Each pay period, the employee's earned finds are automatically loaded onto the card and available on payday—similar to direct deposit.
The task of tracking inventory of cards is a very difficult one. For example, the card issuer may have hundreds or thousands of different locations at which cards are issued. These cards can be issued instantly to customers at a given location, such as a bank or retail store. Furthermore, the cards may be embossed with many different designs, depending on their intended use. Moreover, replacement cards may be stored at a vendor site that is not under control of the card issuer. A still further complication is that each card may have an expiration date associated therewith. Thus, a need exists to accurately and conveniently track the inventory of cards having an expiration date.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.